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Thieves Steal Huge Amount of JLR Engines in England

26K views 91 replies 12 participants last post by  Baron95 
#1 ·
This past Tuesday was not a good one for JaguarLand Rover. According to British news source Birmingham Mail, just over $3.7 million worth of engines were stolen from the company's factory in Solihull, England. Reportedly, the thieves drove up to the facility in a stolen semi-truck, found a trailer full of engines, hooked it up, and drove off. The thieves did this twice in one night, with the same truck, and got the first trailer in just six minutes.

Perhaps more shocking is that Birmingham Mail reports this is the second time a theft of this type has occurred at the facility. The previous time happened in almost exactly the same way, but the engines taken were valued at just over $1.2 million, and five people were convicted of the crime. Currently, local police are looking for the latest suspects and the engines. The trailers were found, but were empty.

We got in touch with a Jaguar representative who provided us the company's official statement: "We can confirm that we are working closely with West Midlands Police to investigate the theft of engines from the Solihull manufacturing plant. A reward is on offer to anyone who has information which leads to the successful recovery of these engines. It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment whilst this investigation is ongoing."



http://www.autoblog.com/2017/02/03/jaguar-engine-theft-uk/
 
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#3 ·
That's what has happened to all the Ingenium petrol engines. No wonder we can't buy Jaguars with them.

But what on earth does anybody want engines for? I can't imagine, they could be sold anywhere. If a car manufacturer began selling cars with Jaguar engines, I bet someone would start to wonder about it. It must be for the scrap value. Like when someone stole the steel presses from the Bristol car factory.

Or could the stolen engines be Ford engines, that Ford just tried to get back?
 
#6 ·
But what on earth does anybody want engines for? I can't imagine, they could be sold anywhere.
These engines are on the way to Africa, middle-east or the -Stans by now.
 
#5 ·
This is hilarious that 2 trailer loads can be spirited away from a modern car assembly plant and they didn't have the decency to return the empty containers!
 
#7 ·
Obviously some planning went into it. It is not that easy to empty two containers full of 500-lbs crated engines.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I wouldn't be surprised if this was an inside job, i.e., a marketing stunt.

Lorries just drive out the gate..., past security..., Jaguar's sales flailing, the impending diesel ban driving in the final nail... .

What better way to drum up interest, get headlines around the world in the usual rags, remind people they make petrols, get rid of unsold/out of date/defective inventory*, than this escapade. JLR's infamous 'guerllia marketing' at its finest/worst.

*check the tactics of BL management in the 70s and 80s, when unsold vehicle and component stock was piling up: they would incite a wildcat strike, meaning a 'twofer' - production stopped, no further inventory piling up, and no pay, as the workers had gone on strike.

Perhaps also a diversion from Jaguar's/JLR's real Ford Explorer overturning, GM ignition barrel, Takata airbag-level problems, like this:

'Im ADAC Ausweichtest schneidet der F-Pace enttäuschend ab. Zwar preist Jaguar den F-Pace als besonders fahrdynamisches SUV an, davon merkt man im Ausweichtest allerdings nichts. Der erste Lenkbefehel zum Ausweichen wird zwar noch spontan in eine Richtungsänderung umgesetzt, beim Versuch, das Hindernis zu umfahren, greift das ESP aber so rigide ein, dass das linke Vorderrad blockiert und der Jaguar in der Folge unkontrolliert geradeaus und somit in den Gegenverkehr schiebt. Ein kontrolliertes Zurücklenken in die ursprüngliche Fahrspur ist dadurch nicht möglich.'

https://www.adac.de/_ext/itr/tests/Autotest/AT5530_Jaguar_F-Pace_20d_Prestige_AWD_Automatik/Jaguar_F-Pace_20d_Prestige_AWD_Automatik.pdf

 
#11 · (Edited)
Yeah, let's concentrate on £3m of engines, covered by insurance, when Jaguar's flagship and sole still minorly-selling product, albeit round the clock adverts currently to flog it, is a veritable deathtrap, where if you make an avoidance manoeuvre, you can't regain control to steer back into your lane, meaning the possibility of a head-on smash.

Still, it's 'fresh' and 'roomy'.

And of course, this lethal product flaw was not picked up by EuroNCAP, who expressly test for this. Now why would that be? Hmm.

Also, the famous 'Elk Test', by those so independent Swedish journalists, who always seem to pick up on German makes failing this test, from the original A-Class till today.

Likewise the American rags, like Car&Driver and Motortrend, who are meant to actually extensively test cars, in California and Michigan, unlike the British rags, that just reprint JLR press releases and embellish on them, yet none of these Americans picked up on this fundamental problem. Gee, I wonder why?

And of course, as Jagular will confirm, the F-Pace is just a 'new gen.' Jag underneath, so is esentially the same as the XE/XF II in its underpinnings, so these cars have the same fundamental problem, albeit less exacerbated due to the lower centre of gravity and slightly lower weight.

PS I wonder when NHTSA or IIHS will be testing the F-Pace, any Jaguar, any JLR vehicle? Before hell freezes over, or afterwards?

Seriously, this bullsh*t has to stop. Dangerous, poorly made, overpriced, antiquated products, protected by a real conspiracy between the media and the authorities, mainly UK and US.
 
#12 ·
PS I wonder when NHTSA or IIHS will be testing the F-Pace, any Jaguar, any JLR vehicle? Before hell freezes over, or afterwards?
With all of your fire breathing and spouting of hot air, hell is not likely to freeze over anytime soon.

I wonder if we can get some scientists to take a look at this forum, to see if there is a possible link between your posts and global warming ?
The catastrophic and anthropogenic links are clearly evident.
 
#13 · (Edited)
More proof it's a stunt: Why would the rag(The Birmingham Mail) that broke the story 2 days ago, splash as its banner headline on the front page yesterday, 4.2.17?:

'£3million Jaguar Heist'

The engines were taken, if they were stolen, from Solihull, the Land Rover plant, and were V8s, so they were going to 100% Land Rovers, as the F-Pace, the only Jaguar built there, has no V8s currently.

This is an obvious attempt to get 'Jaguar' into the headlines. Why? Because JLR is desperate. Behind the lies about doubling, trebling, quadrupling of Jaguar sales in the Luegen press, the reality is Jaguars aren't selling; they are massively overproducing, and it's get sales up, or eventually people will have to be laid off, production suspended, factories closed(Castle Bromwich), which will of course explode the 'Stunning Sales Success' myth, and the whole basis of Jaguar and JLR, because if they've lied about this, what else have they lied about, on such a monumental scale? The answer to which, of course, is everything, as shown by the dangerous F-Pace, as they knew the media and authorities would protect them, by lying for them.

PS and before anyone says it can't be a stunt because the police are involved, this is West Midlands police we're talking about, a force with a such 'highlights' as the continuing refusal to assist the campaigners for the truth of the Birmingham pub bombings, the beatings and framing of The Birmingham Six for the pub bombings, the Bridgewater Four, the Serious Crime Squad that was disbanded due to serious crime, allegedly, the conspiracy to pervert the Hillsborough Inquiry - proven, where they colluded with S.Yorks police, and just lately a B'ham PC committing a road rage attack and conspiring to cover it up - found guilty. This is the force that has on its main Solihull station, a mile from the plant where the engiines were taken, freemasonry regalia.

I'm not suggestng the police are bent, nor that they are 'in on it', but that like most commentors on The Birmingham Mail website and elsewhere, that this is more likely to be an inside job, at least involving the site security people, and possibly JLR themselves, with a motive to garner headlines for Jaguar/JLR in the media, and as JLR is Solihull's and the West Midland's generally largest private employer by far, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the official police line that this appears not to be an inside job, may have been taken at least unwittingly, in order not to embarrass a very important in W.Mids terms company, lest it suffer unfavourable media coverage and a PR hit, if it turned out that it was an inside job, with repercussions for JLR's lax security, management regime and so on.

Life is never what it appears. Truth and the status quo are mutually exclusive. Jaguar brand ambassador David Beckham should be enough to show how the media, the law and business work hand in hand today to screw over the little people.
 
#14 ·
@BMVI

Dude you are tenacious - I'll give you that.

Go Patriots!!!
 
#15 ·
The thieves were operating in Lode Lane...apart from the typo you just can't make this stuff up...or can you?

My question is, as an enterprising thief, just what do you do with all of these serial numbered goods?

Presumably the ECU were not shipped with the engines. They are useless junk without these.
 
#16 ·
Lode Lane is the front entrance to the Land Rover site. Damson Parkway is the back end, where all commercial deliveries take place.

I don't buy this story at all. As you say, these engines are worth at best around £3,000 each as knock-off, and in reality more trouble than they're worth, so why bother, so much risk, for so little reward? Sounds fishy. If one was dreaming up a PR stunt to get Jaguar in global headlines, and empathy and goodwill for the company, it would be something like this.
 
#22 ·
You have to say "suspected" until somebody is convicted to avoid implications of defamation.

Also, maybe it's just a driver picking up the wrong trailer, after all it was dark and the lights were out. Possibly the trailer will turn up in Poland with a very embarrassed truck driver.
 
#24 ·
You have to say "suspected" until somebody is convicted to avoid implications of defamation.
I understand that, but I'm talking about the tractor unit, not the suspected thief/thieves.

The truck(tractor unit) was either stolen or it wasn't. It can't be suspected. Either the owner reported it stolen, or the police informed him/her/they that it had been taken without the owner's consent.

If it was not stolen, the owner is the prime suspect.

Why is it so hard for journalists to bottom these basic things out? Are they retards, or deliberately misinforming?

Why did the WM Police issue an inaccurate statement, as to the location of the crime?

Why is JLR obviously boosting the true value of the engines?

Why do I think there's more to this than meets the eye?

Seriously, if I was JLR's marketing head, I would be acquainting myself with the term 'Plausible Deniability' asap, and seeking a recommendation for a good lawyer. Up for it?
 
#23 ·
Have you considered that the "source" quoted in the Post article is possibly some low level employee who is just trying to get his 15 minutes of fame, but has no detailed knowledge of what actually happened ?

The quoted comments, combined with the level of the English language of the quoter*, if the quotes are repeated verbatim, would tend to suggest that this may well be the case.

*
In fairness, the level of the English language used by the journalist or editor, is not much better.

The article also appears to be factually incorrect.
The headline states:
How gang stole £3m of engines in SIX MINUTES

Later in the article we learn that the six minutes were for the first truck, and that the value of £3 million was for both truckloads.
I would guess that this sort of theft would require several people to be involved. However, the only person mentioned in relation to the theft is the truck driver. The claim that a gang was involved is pure speculation.

It's a very long time since I last read the Birmingham Post.
If this article is representative of the Post's journalism these days, I haven't missed much.
 
#29 ·
So:

We have the Indian Government, in league with the Tata family, making common cause with the British Police and Highways Agency, in order to falsely recruit the anyway corrupt and venal UK media, to report on a theft that didn't happen, via a gate that isn't there, in a futile plot to foment false intrigue and interest in the dying brand that is Jaguar...

OK, got it.
 
#30 ·
Er, Tata is India. Tata was founded on the opium trade. Note I said unwittingly about the police. What gate are you on about? But yes, you're right about Jaguar. Motor Trend magazine have finally to their credit picked up on the dreadful, dangerous? handling of the F-Pace. Mercedes C-Class 4th best selling car in UK. Guilia going down a storm in EMEA and now US. ... Well done.
 
#33 · (Edited)
F Type has its own platform based on the last XK, not related to the F Pace which is built on the new adaptable XE/XF platform. No doubt the new XK will sit on that same platform. Eventually there should be a new and lighter F Type built on the new platform but since it is selling well as is that won't happen anytime soon.

BTW, your video link is just too lame for words. You cannot see anything useful.

If you had actually driven an F Pace on a handling course as I have you might stand a chance of knowing a tiny bit about what you're trying to discuss. The F Pace, unsurprisingly given the engineering, drives EXACTLY like an XF but with lower limits resulting from the SUV ride height.
 
#34 ·
BTW, your video link is just too lame for words. You cannot see anything useful.
Poppycock. Lago describes how effective the Macan GTS is, and then contrasts it to 'other compact, luxury crossovers/SUVs..., ...such as the F-Pace', i.e. the F-Pace(380PS 'S' presumably) can't do what the 365PS Macan GTS can. It's your lame disinfo that is lame.

If you're such a successful lawyer, go pay a few dimes and tell us peasants what Lago said about the F-Pace in its handling test, and what he meant by "What's going on?!". Maybe he meant it in the way it was sooooooooooo good, right? Or maybe not.

You're still ignoring ADAC's findings - the F-Pace Ingenium is dangerous.

Let's wait and see what the nice people at Thatcham say about the F-Pace's handling in its EuroNCAP test, which I thought it already had, as it's been out for a year now - why the delay?

Imagine if for once EuroNCAP gave the F-Pace test to ADAC, or any european non-Thatcham tester. Imagine the panic down in Gaydon.
 
#35 ·
Holy cow - you guys are going at it, with conspiracy theories and all.

All because some thieves stole a few dozen engines to take to Africa, Middle-East or the -Stans.

The only interesting question is did the engines leave the Island by boat or by Chunnel?
 
#40 ·
Story almost completely disappeared from region's paper of record, The Birmingham Post:

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/

Four days on, "£3m Jaguar Heist" still unsolved apparently, nothing obvious on front page of website, nothing in 'Most Read' or 'Most Recent' headlines, and a year old JLR PR story planted instead in the Business section 'Most Read':

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/manufacturing/jaguar-land-rover-reveals-giant-10707296 - 11.01.2016

The old Friday story can still be dug out, but mysteriously, all the sixteen-odd readers' comment, many saying it was an inside job, have gone.

It's almost as if it never happened, or for some reason, what could that be?, it's become an embarrassment.
 
#47 ·
'JLR spokesman Chas Hallett in England told Automotive NewsEurope sister publication Automotive News that the company is working with West Midlands police
Well spotted. His LinkedIn profile confirms that he moved seamlessly from Haymarket to JLR in 2015 , head of "special operations " and where he is now Head of Corporate PR.
 
#48 · (Edited)
Yep. And I may have been a bit hasty about 'reportedly' - see this:

'JLR will not say how many or which engines were stolen, but they are valued at 3 million pounds ($3.75 million).'

- from the Automotive News Europe article above.

Substitute Chas Hallett for JLR, Chas being the head of PR for JLR, and you - Philocd - have the source of the nicked engines valuation.

I think we also know why now, no English media report on this story gave a name of a person for JLR, because I'm sure more than me would have spotted Hallett's name, and raised an eyebrow, with Autocar/Haymarket having such a track record of bias towards JLR. Can you trust what Chas's media mates print?
 
#56 ·
Seems that loss of stock is a real issue at JLR.




coventrytelegraphLoad mobile navigation




NEWS
Coventry Jaguar Land Rover worker who stole parts worth £2m ordered to cough up just £260,000 compensation

Former logistics co-ordinator Simon Wensley is serving a five-year jail term and faces even longer if he doesn't pay up



BYPAUL BEARD

  • 05:00, 27 DEC 2016


Simon WensleyGet Daily updates directly to your inbox+ Subscribe

A Jaguar Land Rover employee who stole car parts worth up to £2million from the company’s Gaydon site has been ordered to pay more than £260,000 in compensation.
Disgraced former logistics co-ordinator Simon Wensley, who had used his own automotive business as a cover to sell the stolen parts, is currently serving a five-year jail term.


Wensley, aged 56, of Kingsbury Road, Coundon, had denied the theft and two fraud charges, but was convicted after a four-week trial at Warwick Crown Court in May last year.
On that occasion a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act was adjourned for a police financial investigation into his assets to be carried out.

READ MORE




When that had been completed, the court heard that Wensley, who had maintained his innocence despite the verdicts, did not accept the findings.
But after further discussions on the day the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing was due to take place, prosecutor Rupert Jones and Wensley’s barrister Ben Williams said figures had been agreed.



Mr Jones said Wensley’s benefit from the thefts had been a total of £846,860 and, taking into account a share in the value of the marital home, his assets totalled £260,261.
 
#57 · (Edited)
- there's that figure again - x10: 'Coventry Jaguar Land Rover worker who stole parts worth £2m ordered to cough up just £260,000 compensation'

We all know that if you had to build a car from individual bits bought from a franchised dealer, it would cost roughly ten times a new car. That's the way the Parts business works, very profitably, and why the likes of Euro Car Parts are such a success, as they generally charge half main dealer prices, for the same OEM parts, without the fancy boxes from Land Rover, Volvo etc..

That's how this guy can be done for £2m, when the real cost of the parts to JLR, bought from their suppliers in the main, as most cars these days are just a collection of bought-in bits, with very little internal added value, was around £250,000.

Same story with the '£3m Jaguar Engine Heist'. We all know roughly how much mass-produced new engines cost, and it's not £40-60,000 a piece. Not even hand-built AMG ones.

But JLR, and its spokesperson, Hallett, can state that figure, if it's based on the individual cost of all the parts on those engines, if you or I, Joe Pleb, had to go into a JLR dealer and buy the 5,000-odd individual parts in a fully dressed engine; it would amount to tens of thousands of pounds.

JLR probably budget internally the cost of a V8/V6(same thing of course) engine from Ford Bridgend at around £3k.

As I said, a £200,000-400,000 pounds 'Heist' of engines bought from Ford, made in Wales, at 3 grand a pop, doesn't sound as sexy as '£3 Million Jaguar Engines Heist', and all the associated guff about 'a Hollywood style operation' etc..

Trouble is, most people today don't think, are not encouraged to do so, so swallow this rubbish.
 
#76 · (Edited)
Nice cul de sac you guys are going down there.

Meanwhile, it's now over a week since 'The Heist', and it's all gone remarkably quiet.

Either the trail has gone cold, and 'The Gang' have long gone, to Poland, The Middle East, or the 'Stans, as variously ascribed by you guys, or... , well, let's just say there still isn't one shred of evidence in the public domain that this 'theft' even took place. If we had a public investigator/prosecutor as in Europe, instead of the Police being responsible, the fact of there being a crime wouldn't even stand up, due to lack of material evidence, except the word of the party claiming the theft, who stand to gain by up to £3m for an insurance claim, and all the incalculable benefts of the free worldwide PR.

All we have is the head of PR at JLR's word for this theft, excessively inflated for the speculated 80 engines max, and reports from the press that the lorry was stolen, but no one has seen it, or reported it stolen, or its registration.

Neither have the two trailers which the media reported were 'dumped in Coventry' - where precisely? - been seen by anyone, or photographic evidence released.

And of course, just to unload up to 40 engines, weighing up to half a tonne each with their stillages and possibly gearbox attached, in the middle of the night, somewhere in Coventry, presumably in near pitch black, twice, would require at least a heavy fork lift truck, possibly more than one, other trailers to transfer onto, which would have taken at least 20 minutes, twice, which no one saw or heard. Yeah, sure.

Time will tell, but if Paddy Power is up for it, I wouldn't mind a tenner on JLR quietly announcing in a few months that they've stumbled across a couple of pallets of dusty V8s down the back of the shed during stocktaking, and 'soz about that and all, but can we just move on'.
 
#77 ·
Does anyone really care about this?

It's the trucks loaded with millions of pounds worth of exports leaving the factories I'm more interested in. I was down the bottom of the A34 the other day and was absolutely staggered with the rate at which transporters flashed by loaded with Jags and LRs, headed the other way for Southampton. What a phenomenal success story JLR has turned into!
 
#78 · (Edited)
Does anyone really care about this?
giving the game away there a bit, n'est ce pas? Rather the nasty man with his awkward questions, like where's the evidence?, any evidence?, would just push off?

As to caring, I would have thought JLR's Head of PR would for one. Making a claim of theft without material evidence and possibly conspiracy to defraud, an insurance company, is serious business, or even just the lesser possible charge of exaggerating the value of the stolen goods.

It's the trucks loaded with millions of pounds worth of exports leaving the factories I'm more interested in. I was down the bottom of the A34 the other day and was absolutely staggered with the rate at which transporters flashed by loaded with Jags and LRs, headed the other way for Southampton. What a phenomenal success story JLR has turned into!
that you Chas?

Yep, the whole world can't get enough of Stunning-JLR, except, UK, where it's just 24/7 adverts in newspapers, radio, TV, Internet for the Stunning-F-Pace, the Stunning-Discovery Sport, Stunning-Jaguar XE/XF/XJ/F-Type, etc, etc, etc..

Go see what a real 'phenomenal success' company looks like, with Volvo, who don't need ex-rag hacks to pour out dodgy PR stunts.
 
#81 ·
If you accept the postulated figure of 60 engines mentioned earlier in this thread, that's one hour's production for JLR. So I don't think the consequential supply chain perturbation will affect production or customers too much.
 
#82 ·
£3.5 Million worth of engines, the only figure that has been published as far as I know, would have a considerable impact on production and if they were destined for the parts market then the impact might be even greater.

To suggest that the loss of that amount is of little consequence is absurd. Certainly the insurers would care.
If it is no more than a PR stunt as has been suggested then the management of JLR should care.
 
#84 ·
Good grief. Arrow_Ant is right, this is not even a ripple or rounding error for Jaguar production. And JLR has indeed greatly increased their production volumes - specially Jaguar. And with more volume there is a need for more incentives and promotions to move product - there is nothing unusual about it.

The theft is nothing more than a curiosity, that is why I posted - it has no larger meaning good or bad for Jaguar.

P.S. I like the word "perturbation" - that is one of the reasons I like this forum, every now and then we see some words that are wonderful because of their infrequent use, particular in the colonies.
 
#87 · (Edited)
Good grief. Arrow_Ant is right, this is not even a ripple or rounding error for Jaguar production. And JLR has indeed greatly increased their production volumes - specially Jaguar. And with more volume there is a need for more incentives and promotions to move product - there is nothing unusual about it.
you really believe that? Sounds like a press release from Autocar/JLR/Hallett's office.

It's BS. Go compare Volvo to JLR. Very similar production size, but Volvo is sitting on a huge pile of cash, thanks to the enormous success of the XC90, backed up now by the other '90' cars. No round the clock advertising, no 0% finance, no £289/month leases, just a genuinely hot product, with production straining to keep up with demand, hence the drop in sales in US in January.

The product they do advertise incessantly, is the V40, as that is within a year of being replaced. The XC60 still sells, with its replacement imminent.

JLR on the other hand is 24/7, on all platforms, pushing the "hot-selling" F-Pace, with TV ads just kicked in again - so I'm told; don't watch it.

The XE and XF have bombed already, wrecked by the C-Class, new A4, Guilia, E-Class, imminent new 5-Series, Volvo S90/V90, and a new 3-Series and A6/A7 due within 12 months

JLR is massively over-producing, especially Jaguar, especially Castle Bromwich.

Land Rover is not immune. The Evoque and RR Sport are the two money-spinners of the group, and now under direct attack from the 2017 BMW X2, 2018 Merc GLA/GLB, new XC60, Lambo Urus, Audi Q8, Porsche Panamera Touring, etc, etc..

All Jaguar and JLR actually has going for it is: THE MEDIA.

It convinces incessantly the soft of mind that JLR is a "Stunning Success", whilst ignoring the actual sales stampede of Volvo and Mercedes, who are the real stars of 2015 to date.

It doesn't matter how many times you say 'production volumes are soaring at Jag/JLR'. The truth is JLR is a Potemkin - new 'P' word, and is just a gossamer between standing up and crashing down, as people start to see through the PR veil.

ps it, JLR, has nothing, no proprietary tech, nothing, which is why tiny McLaren bypassed the Midlands, with JLR, its buddy, the Lord Bhattacharyya fiefdom of Warwick Manufacturing Group, and its £1 billion taxpayer funded Advanced Propulsion Centre and other supposed 'Advanced' automotive techologies, and went to Steel City, Sheffield, for its carbon tubs. How embarrassing for WMG, JLR, and "saviour of the British car industry" Lord Batterycharger.
 
#89 ·
I like how the suspension of my XF reacts to all the perturbations on the road.

And I'm perturbed by the attitudes of some in this forum. Some individuals sound rather perturbed.
 
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